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Keeping a Compact compact

I've seen the same sort of thing, IIRC, it was called the "BackPack." Using one of those or a faked up version of it was my plan for hacking a Color CRT into a Compact. That's the slickest way to hide the extra length of the CRT Assembly, but it's just a smidge too shallow for a 10" VGA CRT's neck.

Great pic, where'd you find it?

 
I have a LaCie ZFP from the same time frame and remember reading about the Bacster in the manual. I thought it was a really cool idea and have been looking for one ever since I got my first compact Mac nearly 13 years ago. My big question--how much did these go for? Does anyone have an old Mac Warehouse from back then to reference?

 
Whoops, I missed that!

As an added value, LaCie used to install about 16MB of public domain/freeware/shareware/demos on their drives.

 
I like how they say they have $400M in assets and can outlive the service life of the unit.

Hah. But hey - at least their name is still around today...

Edit: Also noticed "as low as $599": I'm pretty sure that's for 50MB *yawn*. I'm sure it might be possible (?) to shoehorn another 3.5" HDD inside a Compact. Run a custom SCSI cable out through a small hole in the case to hook into the SCSI port. I wonder if this gadget has a pass-through SCSI port? Probably has to, and there's probably a switch on the underside for termination on/off.

Notice the switch and power cable pass-through on the unit. If you had your Compact up against the wall on a desk (a frequent arrangement) then this would not be for you. If the height of the HD20sc offended the owner, they could just relocate the unit to inside a drawer or under the desk. Or just cut out the footprint of the desk where the Compact lives (sure you want it there? :lol: ) and support it so there is a depression where the Compact sits.

 
MK, it has been done internally. There are brackets out there, usually for the SE, that permit it. I've seen two types. Some mounted a drive vertically near the expansion slot while others stuck it on top of the upper floppy drive/first internal drive. If you're putting a second drive in the SE, you'll need to adapt the power cable to accommodate two outputs and find a double SCSI cable.

Technically, it would be possible to do this inside other Macs. The Classic I isn't a good choice since it already has a vertical RAM card, but I could see this in a Classic II. Some of the modular Macs could definitely accommodate more than one drive if they were smaller in size (think 90s drives here; many 80s 3.5" hard drives were bulkier).

If you really wanted a bunch of hard drives, you could always take out the floppy drives and build a bracket to replace them. Some Macs wouldn't even need this--an LC would have the room. Just be warned some models, like the LC, don't have external floppy drives, so you'd probably want to plan accordingly (networking, CD-ROM).

 
Many years ago I ran dual hard drives in my LCII. Apart from the rats nest of cables required (power splitter, longer SCSI cable with three connectors), it was fine.

 
Notice the switch and power cable pass-through on the unit. If you had your Compact up against the wall on a desk (a frequent arrangement) then this would not be for you.
Mmm, good point. It would have been somewhat better to have the power socket and switch on the bottom of the unit.

 
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